[ajmat]

On 4 August

My Nokia 6131 screen went for a six. Story as follows:

7 August

Go to Nokia Care Samvrudhi Technologies (ST)at 4.30PM

Huge disorganised crowd - speak to some girl - "Have you given name , saar"?

"No"

"We don't take walk-in customers after 4"

"Do I have to fly in?"

Go home and speak to Nokia Care who say no such thing and tell me to call them if an issue occurs

8th August
Go early afternoon to ST- battle the madding crowd. You have to give your name. No signs, no directions on process. Even the old jaded Canara Bank do better. Two counters manned, two women chat and look around. After 30 min, name called, form filled, etc.

"It will take 4 days, we will call you"

Form gives numbers and commits to repair within a week subject to parts availability.

12th August

Phone ST - either engaged or no one picks up

14th August

I have the day off, I pop in. Girl takes sheet goes in and returns

"Two more days"

Meanwhile, I fly off for the long weekend

August 20th

I pop in. Same girl takes sheet goes in and returns

"Two more days"

I call Nokia Care Line and report this. They give me a complaint number and advise me to call after two days

August 22nd

Call again - meanwhile battery issue has started so you need to listen to five min aboutr battery issue.

"Not heard from them, sir, call in 24 hours!"

August 24th

Call again - to listen to five min about battery issue.

"The care centre said enquire after one week "

I politely hammer at them

" You are suppoed to resolve my problem, not prolong it"

"Sir, I understand, blah, blah, -We are only a call centre"

"What is the point of talking to you ?"

"We cannot do anything else, sir!"

This goes on, and on

5th Sept

Call helpline

5 min about battery etc....operator, details etc.

"Have you called ST?"

"No, phones not answered or engaged"

"Why don't you call in on them? "

I rail about the time wasted and you should be helping me

Am then given a mobile number of ST, if no joy, to call them back

Beleive it or not - it is never answered

Back to Nokia Care line

5 min about batteries, then give my details again blah blah

"Can't get through!"

"Then go there (to ST)"

I burst a vein and hammer at them

I demand to speak to a supervisor

"Not allowed"

Name and address of a person to escalate

"Go to the website"

I have already done this and no acknowledgement or action

"Is there anything else? "

"Could you advise me on whether to buy a Sony Ericsson or Motorola? You folks have shown no empathy, no concern, no customer orientation to encourage me to keep your custom"

"hmmmm" (bored tone)

I really let them have it without going into f's and b's - I work in an open office.

3.30PM

walk in to ST

Quite a few angry folks out there!!!

Girl takes sheet goes in and returns. Comes out with various peoples stuff but not mine

Returns after two cycles with the most honest statement ever

"Pending"



I then tell her to return my phone

So here I am with a dud phone. I borrowed my mothers phone for over a month.

My admin says she can get someone to sort it out but I am not optimistic

So it looks like a cheap interim phone or a Sony Ericsson or Motorola

For the heck of it, I ring the call centre and tell them the phone is pending but omit fact that I have collected it. Let them go into a spin

[balechaparka]

Hi Ajmath ,very bad customer service.

With all these phone call and traveling expenses you could have got new mobile hahaha

[benbsb29]

Imagine if you were calling up from your mobile. I am charged Rs. 2/- per minute if i call up a landline from my mobile. Imagine how much money i would have wasted this way alone.

Customer service totally sucks in our country, and its in almost anything you look at.

[anandpadhye]

Similar experience with my O2...

I was listening to mp3 on the headset, the phone rang. so I disconnected the headset to answer the call - to my surprize, the phone got stuck (I could only take calls in the headset mode, not in the normal mode)...After a lot of follow up with their tech support, I was told to use a toothpick to reset the headset port!!!

"Luckily" that did not work and I had to send the phone to their service center, who apparantly knew that this was a "hardware" problem with all the sets (may be in that batch) ans the motherboard needed a replacement. Guess what - the part was not available and after a long long follow up with them, they returned me (but returned some other set, not mine with a cracked LCD!).

Now I started following up with their Singapore office....escalated to their mail-id for 21 days (3 weeks) in a row, 2 remiders a day....



After 5 months (yes, 5 months) and somehow got them to give me a brand new replacement device from Singapore.

I am sorry for the overall state of affairs here...

[spadival]

I don't bother buying a new phone these days.. The service and warranty support that you get with a new phone sucks anyways. If the phone has lasted for six months to 1 year without any problem, chances are that it will last longer without any problem.

[heavy_foot]

Once my old 6600's screen had conked off, i took it to some mobile repair shop in national market , gandhinagar..they fixed it in about 15mins and took 400bucks for it. They had all the equipments, latest firmwares everything. But if you go to shop like this you have to make sure you are standing right there when they are fixing your phone or else chances are they would remove some part from your phone to fix some other phone.

[theMAG]

The joystick of my N73 sheared off from its PCB under normal usage. Got it replaced from Nokia. Cost? 3500 bucks

[satish_appasani]

I think it is the same case with every other service center. I had similar experiances with Nokia and Imate.

BT was not working on my brand new Imate Jasjar and those AftesSS in Bangalore guys just denied to accept it saying water logged and warranty not covered.

Both Nokia and Imate say they don't have replacement warranties in India. They only fix the defective piece. Sure, they are taking us for a ride.

[benbsb29]

And people flock to Nokia saying they have excellent after sales service and repairs.

[Vid6639]

yup same here. harassed till no end for a sony ericsson joystick. we called up teh call centre and they told us it would take an hour to fix so we could wait and they would give it back immediataly.

When my friend went there they told it is not possible in one hour it will take 2 days and they don't know who told that. they said try the other service centre. my friend went there and they told that it's late and it cannot be done today. it was 5pm and they close at 6pm. next day friend called up the same number and took teh guys name and blasted them. finally my friend gave the phone again and they said 100 bucks on teh phone but gave a bill for Rs.350. 100 bucks for the joystick and 250bucks for service charges.

[GTO]

I guess buying from the grey market does have its advantages after all! I have my dealer handle all of this nonsense, and he has been very efficient at resolving issues. Saves me a lot of time.

[finneyp]

Absolutely Pathetic service by Nokia and certainly not expected from the largest Mobile maker in World!

Ajmat, try to reach some higher-up in Nokia, this should certainly help!

Now, I need to take extra care of my Nokia phone!

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

And people flock to Nokia saying they have excellent after sales service and repairs.

Nokia phones do. But you need to get the repairs done at a place other than the Nokia Care center. Then you get good, fast service. If you get it done at a place where you know the people (always buy all your phones from one dealer), they won't cheat you with fake parts.

[vnabhi]

It is not limited to Nokia alone. I bought a Motorola V3i in April 2006, and last month, no key was functioning. I took it to the authorized service centre, who repaired it by adjusting some cable fault in a day.
But I later found 4 keys not working, and now they say the motherboard has conked off, after keeping the phone with them for 2 days. It costs Rs 4000 to replace it, and they have no ready stock. A new phone now costs Rs 7500/-. So I will give this to my son, and buy a new one.
I was thinking of a Nokia, but after reading these posts, I am kinda stuck upl

[finneyp]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

I was thinking of a Nokia, but after reading these posts, I am kinda stuck upl

Nokia phones are very durable and robust compared to SE, Moto etc., only thing is A.S.Service is not that efficient!
Do I see any resemblance with Fiat?